Holbrooke final words; ‘Stop war in Afghanistan’

Updated on : Tuesday, December 14, 2010

WASHINGTON: Richard Holbrooke, the late US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, had some stark final words as he was sedated and going in for surgery, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

"You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan," Holbrooke told his Pakistani surgeon, the Post reported, citing unnamed family members.

Holbrooke, one of the most experienced US diplomats, died Monday as the administration of President Barack Obama reviews its strategy in Afghanistan. He was 69.

Holbrooke fell ill at work on Friday, was rushed to a Washington hospital and underwent what the Post described as a 21-hour operation to repair his aorta.

Working along with US military planners in Afghanistan, Holbrooke oversaw a tripling in the number of civilians in the war-ravaged country under a year-old plan to boost the country's agriculture, economy and civilian institutions.

Afghan war will end if Taliban lay down arms: US

Updated on : Sunday, July 12, 2009

WASHINGTON: Ruling out talks with Taliban till they renounce violence and repudiate al-Qaeda publicly, a top Obama Administration official today said that the war against terrorism in Afghanistan would end only after the militant group lays down its arms.

"This war is not going to end on the decks of the USS Missouri, like World War II did. This war is going to end when the Taliban lay down their arms and reintegrate into society.

And that's always been an option," Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said.

"The United States and (Afghan) President (Hamid) Karzai have long said that Taliban reconciliation is part of our programme, people who work with the Taliban, who support them, who want to lay down their arms and participate, the door is always open," he told media in an interview.

Holbrooke refrained from answering directly when he was shown a video clip of an interview with the spokesperson of Pakistan Army saying that some elements have maintained contacts with the Taliban leader Mullah Omar and they can bring him on the table of talks for the US.

"Now, he (Pak Army spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas) is saying on the record he wants to work out some relationship, if you will, between the US and the Taliban," asked television anchor Wolf Blitzer.

"No, I don't know what he's talking about. The Taliban and al-Qaeda are linked like this. And, unless the Taliban repudiates al-Qaeda publicly, this is a nonstarter...," Holbrooke said.

Afghanistan’s stablitiy related with Pak situation: Holbrooke

Updated at: 1520 PST, Saturday, April 11, 2009

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said Afghanistan’s stability related with Pakistan’s situation.Pakistan is at the center of our strategic concerns, said Mr. Holbrooke while talking to US newspaper “Wall Street Journal”."If Afghanistan had the best government on earth, a drug-free culture and no corruption it would still be unstable if the situation in Pakistan remained as today. That is an undisputable fact, and that is the core of the dilemma that the Western nations, the NATO alliance, face today."Mr. Holbrooke says, " The reason for fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan is clear: The Taliban are the frontrunners for al Qaeda. If they succeed in Afghanistan, without any shadow of a doubt, al Qaeda would move back into Afghanistan, set up a larger presence, recruit more people and pursue its objectives against the United States even more aggressively." Public support for the expanded U.S. Afghan mission hinges on making this case stick.Mr. Holbrooke says, "We face a common threat, a common challenge." Pakistani civilians are concerned by the rising number of suicide bombings, now seen in once tranquil Islamabad and Lahore.” Mr. Holbrooke says the Pakistani president "deserves credit for his personal courage" in holding the job. As part of a "long-term commitment to Pakistan," the Obama administration wants to lock in billions in aid for the country. Military officials also say the scope of Predator strikes will be broadened, against Pakistani official objections, and efforts to get the adversarial Pakistani and Afghan intelligence services to cooperate will be intensified. Mr. Holbrooke insists the U.S. will respect Pakistan's "red lines" about American combat troops."Some people say to me, 'Why don't we go in there with our troops and just clean it up?'" he says. "First of all we can't without their permission, and that would not be a good idea. Secondly, cleaning them up in the mountains of Pakistan's tribal areas, as anyone can see from the search for al Qaeda in Afghanistan, is a daunting mission. It's the same kind of mountains. A few weeks ago I flew up through the deepest and remotest valleys imaginable. You could see tiny villages in the crevices in the mountains. You don't want American troops in there. So that option's gone."